[theastronaut]

Finally some real progress!!!!


I pulled the column out today after work and started shortening it. Decided to go three inches since that seems to be about as much as you can shorten it, and I don't like being close to the steering wheel when driving. I put about 100 miles on the blue '65 I restored this weekend and the first thing I noticed was how close the steering wheel was.


I disassembled it and stripped it to bare metal with a DA to have a clean starting point.






Decided where my first cut would be. It would have been easier to move the cut back a little but I wanted to save the "M" in the split of the tube.




I blacked out the area with a sharpie and used a sway bar clamp off my VW for an even edge to scribe the cut line.







Then measured 3" over and made another scribed line, and cut out the middle.






Reassembled on a piece of angle iron to align the two pieces. You can see how the clamps help make an even cut for a tight joint. I also beveled the edges slighly for better penetration.




Welded up.




And the welds ground down and smoothed with the DA. I cut out the groove where it was welded along the seam with a triangle file so the weld area matches the split along the length of the tube. Nobody will ever see it but that kinda stuff drives me crazy if I know its there.